Title: Life and deeds, July 3
Matthew 11:2-19
life and action
Disciples of John the Baptist
Such a role we can read in today's text. John the Baptist, who proclaimed the kingdom of God apart from Jesus, was imprisoned. Hearing about what Jesus had done, he sent his disciples to Jesus to inquire. “Are you the one who is supposed to come? Otherwise, shall we wait for someone else?” (verse 3). When Jesus was asked this question, he did not directly answer it, but answered it indirectly. “Go to John and tell him what you have heard and seen. The blind see, the lame walk properly, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the gospel is preached to the poor. Happy is he who does not doubt me” (verses 4-6). The phenomena listed here were things that people at that time could think of as God's events. They experienced divine intervention in the unraveling of the cursed fate that entangled their lives. To say that these things happen in Jesus means that the work of Jesus and the action of God coincide.
marketplace children's play
After the disciples of John the Baptist have passed away, Jesus explains to people the greatness of John the Baptist, and then describes the situation through a parable. Jesus says: “To what can this generation be compared? It is like children in the marketplace, sitting side by side, shouting to each other, saying, ‘We played the flute, but you did not dance; we sang, but did not beat our breasts’” (verses 16 and 17). Perhaps at that time, there was such a play for young children. When one side pretends to play the flute, the other side dances to the melody, and when they sing a funeral song, they act sadly. Jesus' parable means that all people are self-centered. Not only that, but it also means that you want others to follow your ideas. This was the market children's play back then, and not only was it the way of life of all people in general.
Today, people live in the world that way. The idea of trying to get the other person to do their own thing takes hold of us so strongly. Social life as well as religious life. We can put aside the way the people of the world are like that, but that even the church operates in this way must be clearly pointed out as a Christian believer who must constantly reflect on himself on the horizon of the kingdom of God. In particular, it is undesirable for church leaders to rule the believers as if they were puppets, even if it was adorned in the name of faith.
It is a very natural result that people who were living like children's play in the marketplace were displeased with John the Baptist and Jesus. So Jesus added. “John appears and neither eats nor drinks, so he says, 'This man is crazy.' Then the Son of Man comes and eats and drinks, and he says, 'Look, this man enjoys eating and drinking, and only gets along with tax collectors and sinners.' ” (vv. 18, 19a).
standard of wisdom
Jesus said this today. “The truthfulness of the wisdom of God can be known by the results that have already been shown” (v. 19b). These words of Jesus are teachings that can come from those who have accurately penetrated human beings and human history. The question of whether a person or a nation lived wisely is that it is judged by the fruit of life that comes from him. As Jesus taught in another parable, it is similar to this saying that you can tell whether a tree is good or not by looking at its fruit.
However, people do not look at the outcome of such a life, but only the way that person lives and criticizes them. Those who saw John the Baptist and said that they were “crazy” or saw Jesus and said, “I hang out with sinners” were such people. This means that after all, the way a person lives is not so important. Depending on the person, you can live ascetic or simply secular. Some people may live as civil servants, while others may live as merchants. There are priests and there are secular professionals. There are people who make a lot of money and live a noble life, but there are also people who live poorly because of poverty. Some people live in a jjokbang next to the train track at Yeongdeungpo Station, while others live in a high-end apartment or country house of 100 pyeong. These lifestyles have nothing to do with the wisdom of God.
But we always put everything in our lives only on these things. We are investing everything in order to secure the standard of living the world wants. You may be lucky enough to secure such a standard, but that does not mean that the person has just entered the wisdom of God.
Jesus said that the essence of God's wisdom is not such a way of living or standards, but what results come from him and what the fruits of that life are. But don't get me wrong. The results, or fruits of life, in today's text mean things related to the kingdom of God, not the career and social position we think of. Here lies the mystery of human life. There are people who live an outwardly humble life, but the results and fruits are holy, and there are people who live a glorious life but live a humble life in reality. This difference will be well understood without the need for me to explain further here today.
I remember reading a book called <The Janitor who became a saint> a long time ago. The gist of the book was that the man who sweeps the neighborhood with a broom every morning is a saint. Of course, he has had a long life's journey, but in the end his act of cleaning made him a saint. Can it be said that deeds are humble, but existence is holy?
Messiah's deeds
Back to the beginning of today's text. The disciples of John the Baptist came and asked, “Are you the Messiah?” Jesus answered, "Go to John and tell him what you have heard and seen." If it is a prophet, then the work of the prophet is revealed to them, and if it is the Messiah, the work of the Messiah will be revealed to them.
The blind, the lame, the lepers, the deaf, the dead, and the poor all listed here are those who are bound by a cursed doom. It is the Messiah's act to set them free from such curses. God's salvation is proclaimed to these people, and it is the results and actions that can be found in the Messiah that these things actually happen to them. Early Christians believed that these things happened with Jesus.
Did Jesus actually do this? Many of the miracles and healings recorded in the Gospels must be considered true to a large extent. However, these events have a slightly different meaning than the miracles and healings we think of today. At that time, it was thought that all diseases were either the intervention of an evil spirit or the result of human sin, so they were considered very serious even if they were not really incurable diseases or disabilities. Jesus must have accurately grasped each situation and solved those problems. Let's think a little bit more.
Verse 5 is originally a quotation from Isaiah 61:1 in the Old Testament. It means that the Israelites understood God's salvation in this healing of the blind and the lame. In line with the faith of Israel and the actions of Jesus, Jesus was confessed by early Christianity as the Messiah the Old Testament hoped and waited for. Everything that happened in Jesus' public life now coincided with this Messiah's result.
This does not mean that it is not certain whether the healing of the blind and the lame actually happened with Jesus. I'm just saying that you shouldn't understand this mechanically. What is important in these reports is the fact that they believed in Jesus as the Messiah, not whether or not the blind had opened their eyes. In fact, as the Messiah, these things do not necessarily happen in Jesus. Crucially, in the light of the resurrection, we believe in Jesus as the Messiah, not in the healing of the blind.
In any case, today's text that God's wisdom is judged by the very result is correct. The things of the Messiah were revealed to Jesus, and things like Christians will happen to us Christians today. Although we cannot know the specifics of the actions and results that will appear in us, surely as those who believe in the Lord of the Resurrection, the proper results will appear from within, not from the outward appearance.